Composing with virtual instruments

In this video, i want to show you some of the possibilitiesfor composing, using just the virtualinstruments that are included with Pro Tools.This sessions only uses the DV33 plug-in, structurethree, expand two, mini grand, vacuum and boom.All of these are included for free with Pro Tools 11.As you can see in my session, I have an instrument trackAnd beneath each instrument track I have the same track printed to audio.I've recorded all of the MIDI data intoaudio by bussing the outputs of the instrument tracks,in this case Bus one and two, to theinputs of the audio track, again Bus one and two.

And what this does is allows me to record, enable and thenrecord the MIDI data directly into an audio waveform on an audio track.It's a good idea to record the audio output of any MIDIor instrument track, so you always have a hard copy of it.Perhaps in the future you decide to come back to the session, maybe several yearslater and maybe that virtual instrument doesn't workanymore on new system, so by recording the partaudio now You'll have it in the future,even if you can't use the virtual instrument itself.Another advantage to recording instruments into audiois that you can save on CPU onceyou're done with the part by deactivating thevirtual instruments once you're done working on them.

Again, we can deactivate a track by right clicking and choosing Make Inactive.ButI didn't want to deactivate my audio track.So let's make it active, and let's deactivate the instrument track instead.By doing this, I'm no longer using the resources of the DB33 instrumentplug-in and I'm just listening to the audio that I've recorded from it.I've covered deactivating tracks in more detail earlier in this course.Another thing to note about printing your midi data to audio, isthat if you have repeated material, like, the structure free loop here, oreven, the mini grand loop here, you only need to print each clip once.

Then you can copy and paste, or loop the printed audio and save disk space.If you do this it's sometimes a good idea to record a little beyond the endof each loop to preserve the ring out of any notes, just in case you need them.So let's take a look at the first piano clip on the piano track here.If I use the Trimmer tool to extend this clip you can see thatI recorded past the end of the loop just in case I needed that ringout later.Likewise on the bells clip here you can see that I did the same thing.So I'm going to go ahead and playback part of this session, let's listen to it.

Again, we're going to listen from the printed audio and wecan open each virtual instruments and see how it's setup.We start off with the piano.And then a drum part comes in. You heard a little skip therebecause I didn't trim that edit back up. You got a base part.

And this is all using vacuum for the bass.There's a bell part here, thisis using expand two. Next is a synth stab part.And this was using Structure Free.Then last I have the DB33 with an organ part.

You can see that with all of the freevirtual instruments in Pro Tools, and all of the thirdparty instruments that are available, you can compose almost anystyle of music, using only virtual instruments and Pro Tools.And I definitely recommend making sure you record to audiowhen you're done, just so you have a back up.

Resume Transcript Auto-Scroll

Author

Released

9/27/2013

Pro Tools is the industry-standard software for music and post-production. Get started from the ground up in this course with producer Skye Lewin, as he shows you how to record, edit, mix, and master audio and MIDI in Pro Tools. Skye teaches you how to create music with virtual instruments and plugins, work with audio and video files, and make both basic edits and more advanced ones with tools like Elastic Time and Pitch. Plus, learn to create a musical score, write and edit automation, and mix with effects loops and more. Finally, discover how to bounce down a final master and export and archive your session. Whether you're a producer, a sound engineer, or a hobbyist, this course can help you become proficient in Pro Tools 11.